Corrupt Me
by AnInsomniaOfWriting
Summary: Sequel to Convince me.
1. Chapter 1

**Corrupt Me**

**Authors Comments:** The first chapter of the second installation. If you catch any errors, please let me know. Thanks.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

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By the time that we returned to Konoha everything was in full motion. People were making preparations. It was unlike anything that I had seen before, it was hard to imagine that even civilians could be so mobilized. We made our way to the Hokage's mansion. All the Jonin were gathering there.

"Konoha faces destruction again, our allies have turned on us. All the other great nations are against us this time. Our forces number roughly twenty-thousand...Against roughly sixty-thousand to seventy-thousand." My heart skipped a beat, three to one maybe more. That information could be inaccurate though. It could be higher. There was simply no way of knowing. Though it was true that since the last great war there had been overall peace throughout the major areas. Most conflicts were small and in general had few casualties.

"Our...enemies." I could tell that it pained him a little to reference his former allies as such. "Fear that our military might may be so great, and that in the near future might be enough to destroy them." His eyes made contact in our direction. Where the three of us Uchiha stood. "I've been in delegation with the other nations for some time now, trying to solve their issues diplomatically. It's no use though, I simply will not give into their demands.

"You would lay down the lives of so many, just for a few Uchiha." I didn't catch who said the words, but I could hear the hate in his words. I knew a little of what father told me. Old wounds still festered here, and throughout the ninja world. It seemed like all the older people had a story to tell, and in general they weren't pleasant. Still I could see the subtle movement of fathers fist clenching. He was doing his best to keep his cool. "You can't justify that, even as the Hokage. You don't hold that power."

"You're right, I don't...There will be a vote amongst the Jonin, for obvious reasons, Sasuke," Father looked at him, from what I could see his eyes were nearly aflame with anger. "You and and your family won't be included in the voting process." That angered me a little. When one became a Jonin, which everyone had done. I became one a few years ago at fifteen. Hayato did it just last year.

The Hokage continued to continue giving out details about when said voting would take place. We all returned home. Father went ahead and had everyone get prepared to leave. He said that there was a strong chance that the village would vote for our exile. Exile came with the certainty of being hunted down like wild animals. We would be unwelcome in virtually every nation. My head was oddly blank as all of this was going on. I found myself just preparing, like some kind of mindless drone. All my essentials were packed in a relatively short amount of time. Father was busy consoling mother, who wasn't taking the news lightly. In some ways this was her home far more than ours.

She had spent a lifetime here, and knew more about it than I probably ever would. Eventually though she calmed down and begun to make her preparations. Although I myself didn't feel like leaving, even I had to agree with the man who called the Hokage out. The lives of one family, even if they were good friends, did not out weigh everyone in the villages safety. It was the only logical way of looking at it. As we waited for some information one thought came across my mind. It seemed to be the only thing that I could think about. Regardless of what happened, I was going to leave.

It was night time before there was a knock on the door. Father was the one to answer it. Naturally of course it was the Hokage, the look on his face explained it all. From as far away as I was I couldn't make out what he was saying, but he put a firm hand on fathers shoulder in a likely attempt to reassure him. They spent a few more minutes talking, I unsuccessfully attempted to listen in to what they were saying, but it was hard to keep my patience. I wanted to know what was going to happen to us. Eventually the Hokage left. Father turned around and sighed.

"The votes came back... We can stay, but it means war for Konoha."

"Then we should go..." Mother said, but her voice was rather solemn. "This is my home, and I don't want to see it destroyed again."

"I'm not going! I'm going to fight for my home!" Hayato suddenly burst out in anger. It was probably the most emotion at any one given point that I had ever seen. "I honestly didn't think that he cared so much about here. He had never shown and sort of patriotism before. At least not in front of me. "We can't just tuck tail and run away."

"I agree. Konoha is very strong. Their numbers don't account for much. What about you Hitomi? Do you think we should stay or go?" That was a tough question, right now, I felt like leaving. IT had nothing to do with saving Konoha, I just felt so unwelcome here. It wasn't just the man who said something at the Jonin gathering. Lately, all the stares that people gave me as I walked down the streets, and the whispers behind my back. People just did not want us here. I knew that. Apparently though enough people felt that a minimum we were needed. To me it seemed that some people only viewed us as a military asset. Personally, given enough time I bet we would be capable of taking over this place. Not that there would be a point to that. It gained us nothing but just more bloodshed.

I was beginning to think that maybe it was best to just stay and fight. The idea though, of so many people dying just for us didn't seem right. If we went through with this I didn't know if I could have that much blood on my hands. Not that this was my fault, my ancestors were. I guess that being of good lineage came at a steep price. This was probably the first time my life where I absolutely didn't know what course of action to take. There was no way to prepare for this kind of decision.

"We are going to stay, and we won't let our home be destroyed either. We are going to make everyone regret deciding to attack us here." Father suddenly put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, we got some preparations to make. Sakura, I need you to go get "_it"._ Kids, you come with me. I need to take you somewhere." I knew where he was going to take us, but Hayato was about to be in for a shock. He was about to learn some things that frankly, I knew he wouldn't take well. He was irrational at times. Who knew what he would do when he found out.

I never thought that I would see the day that war would be coming to Konoha. Dad had been doing such great job keeping the peace. I knew that there would always be certain people always wanting to start something. I knew that Konoha had plenty of strong heroes, but that didn't mean that the enemy wouldn't have theirs. I knew that we boasted at least two people who the other nations would give _"Flee On Sight" _orders. My father, even though he didn't have the Kyuubi any more, still had his sage techniques. I had planned on learning them as well, but it looked as if that was going to have to be postponed.

Also we had the twins father. His ability was self explanatory. The twins were both pretty strong as well, but it was important to remember that everyone had a weakness. No one person was ever above being defeated.

I could hear dad discussing strategies with Shikamaru down the hallway. I myself was preparing my equipment. I spent a lot of time preparing for an early morning mission that father was sending us on. Since our squad specifically trained in sabotage, we would have an important role in a defensive war like this one. We would be routing enemy supply lines, and hit and run missions designed to demoralize the enemy. We were all going to be very busy until the end of this.

The next morning came to quickly. Most everyone's attire had changed to incorporate the traditional Konoha flak jacket. The only hold out was Hitomi, but that didn't really surprise me at all. She never really was one to follow the crowd. She and Hayato both looked unusually tired, they must have been up awfully late. We spent a good hour firming up the details of the mission. There were scouts all around the village, so travel would be dangerous outside of the gates. Even on the first day there were already a few casualties, and a few had been taken for intelligence. One of our secondary objectives was to recover any one who had been captured. Assuming of course that rescuing them didn't put our current mission in jeopardy. It would be tough for me not to rescue them, I wasn't the kind of person who could leave someone behind. It was something that I think I inherited.

Our mission was one our first truly extended ones. We would be out disrupting supply lines for the most part. Kakashi once again split us into pairs of two. Though this time we would be off and on with various other squads. The first day was pretty uneventful, though it was tense. We were traveling behind the enemy lines. We had a few close calls while we were making our way, luckily Hayato's skill in not being detected was really coming in handy. We ended setting up camp inside the hollowed out portion of a rather large tree. It wasn't the first time that we had used this tree actually, it had a secret exit through the top that one could get through, and the entrance was removable. It would be pretty lucky for someone to find this spot of ours. Despite going slower and taking a safer route we had actually made it pretty far into the outskirts of the country.

While it was true that Konoha was a rather large city by many standards, it was the huge expanse of forest that made our country so large. It was easy to get lost in, not to mention it boasted many kinds of dangerous flora and fauna. It wasn't a place that was to be traveled lightly in.

Despite the fact that we were well hidden, it still wasn't the best idea not to have someone keeping watch. Hayato always took the first one, he claimed that he had trouble sleeping anyways. I didn't mind, I fell asleep almost right away. Which was strange considering how nervous I was.

The small fire that we had made was down to embers when Hayato woke me. He must have let me sleep a little longer than I intended, because the sunlight was just beginning to crest on the horizon, casting a pale greenish blue against the dark sky.

I sent a few shadow clones in various directions. It was one of the few times that I used them for their original purpose. Scouting, but if someone killed one of my clones they would be in for a nasty surprise. From the safety of our temporary hideout I would have time to recover just in case. Hayato was pretty amazing on the defense. My other purpose for sending them out was to place seals for the Flying Raijin jutsu. If I could get a clone into a base and place a seal, it wouldn't be much of a challenge for me to send a little _"present."_ It wasn't the most graceful, or sporting tactic, but I would do it if necessary. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

It was true that the Uchiha were on the rise again, but they weren't the only clan that the world wanted the world wanted a war again, they would be reminded of the power of the clans that Konoha boasted. It was the smallest ones that had the most power. I would be avenging my ancestors, and remaking what should have never been undone. When I initially learned about my family's past it was a lot to take in, but it really made me want to make our legacy shine once again. This time brighter than ever.

My scouting out was for not, aside from the few scouts that we had crossed earlier. I knew that it would likely be another day or two before the main force of all the other nations combined were here, but still, intelligence suggested that there should be more combatants than this. Something wasn't right. I created hundreds of clones, sending them in every possible direction. Obviously with this many I couldn't use the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, as the resulting chakra loss from any more than four of them would kill me. It seemed to be the one jutsu that didn't really matter how much chakra the clone had, the effect on my real body was the same. I had yet to figure out why though. In theory the loss per clone should have a proportional amount of toll on me. Also, since the clone wouldn't have much chakra, the sphere would be small. Luckily I had better ways of taking out groups.

It took me longer than it should have to find the enemy. A small force consisting of a few hundred were headed on a speed run for Konoha, if they had rested through the night, they could be there in just a few hours. Which meant I had to send word. That was simple enough though. I could send a clone back instantly to report their location. Now I just had to get Hayato, our main mission was just starting. We would get behind them, and take out any type of route that they may have made. An army was pointless if it couldn't be supplied. There was no way around that fact.

If I had to guess, the other villages wouldn't want to risk a straight fight. It would be a risky strategy against a well defended city like Konoha. They would draw this out, cutting us off from the outside world. A blockade so to speak. Starving out an entire country was cruel, but effective.

Hayato and I set out, it didn't take us long to come across the first little wave of supplies, trying to come in, the guards were easy enough to dispatch of, caught off guard ironically. They were laughing about the war, deluded about the fact that they had a numbers advantage. We didn't destroy the supplies. Given my unique skill set I was able to send them to a supply depot. Where some workers were waiting. The crates contained food and weapons, mostly shuriken and kunai, but then again, you could never have too many of those. Supplies were worth the chakra, though I had used up a rather large portion of my own. It was true that I had the Kyuubi's supply, but he wasn't always the most reliable option.

Most of my shadow clones had been taken out already, though they had managed to take out a few enemies. All in all between Hayato and I, we had taken out just under twenty foes. Which wasn't bad for just the first day. I felt bad though, because a large number of the enemy combatants weren't at more than a chunnin level. It was almost as if they were just using them as cannon fodder. To wear us down in little ways. I didn't like it.

Since we had made it out to the hideout, I had taken the time to place a seal out there, so I would be able to sleep at home in the comfort of m own bed and resupply. I decided to do it while Hayato was asleep after his watch was over. I knew that he would object to the idea of us abandoning our efforts out here, even if it was just temporarily. Though he knew that we could instantly come back. He just wouldn't like the idea of me wasting chakra to do so, but moving two people was an easy task that didn't require much.

I grabbed hold of his hand, then with my other hand poured my chakra into the special kunai. The dim light from the smoldering embers was instantly replaced with the light pouring in through my window at home. Hayato still was sleeping, though now he was resting in my own bed. I could only imagine how much my dad would scold me if he saw this. I knew that he would be busy though, and wouldn't notice. It wasn't like anything was going on between us. I peered out my window, looking into the streets. You would have never guessed that this place was attacked today, only on the far outskirts of the village could you see any damage, a few buildings were still sending a few ominous plumes of smoke into the air. Made visible by the moonlight. It was sad to think that it took that many enemies just to do that little damage.

I climbed into bed with Hayato. It wasn't the first time that we had slept together. One winter it was particularly cold, and we were forced to share a sleeping bag. He faced the other direction then. I thought it was rather chivalrous of him at the time. As I started to doze off I felt his arms pull me close up next to him. I didn't blame him, since he was asleep. Plus, in a hard time like this, it was the most comfortable feeling in the world. The warmth of his body quickly lulled me to sleep.

It was when I woke up did things turn out to be problematic.

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**Authors notes: **Sorry this took so long, I meant to get this story started sooner. Review or something. If you have any suggestions, now would be a good time.


	2. New Things, and Old Things Precious

**Authors Comments:** I remember when I first started writing on FanFiction, and my first story wasn't exactly taking off like I would have hoped it would. That was a year ago. Things certainly have come a long way.

Also, I'm going to try and start a new way of showing that I have switched characters. It's gonna be pretty obvious, so no sense in really taking a lot of time to explain.

**Disclaimer:** Welcome to the first Annual festival, of me saying I don't own Naruto!

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**Chapter 2**

"_**Kushina"**_

I had woken up to being attacked before, though only once. That time didn't compare with the sudden shock that came to me this time. A pair of lips were being pressed softly against mine. It was still dark, so I couldn't see who it was, but it was pretty obvious. I could feel my face beginning to contort into one of confusion. Hayato clearly noticed my reaction, because he jumped clean out of the bed.

"I'm sorry!" He cried out.

"Shut up someones going to hear you!" I yelled in a hush tone. I was still at a loss of words, so I didn't really know what to say. Plus to top it all off, that was my first kiss. I wasn't even sure if it counted. Technically he kissed me and I didn't kiss him back. More surprising, was the fact that I wasn't the least bit angry with him. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was sending those kinds of messages to him. What was he supposed to think?

"Hey." His voice made me realize that I had been spacing out for a few minutes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"No it's alright...What time is it?" I just wanted a change in subject.

"Three in the morning." Inwardly I growled. The feeling of being exhausted was still lingering in my muscles.

"Look, let's just forget about this, and go back to sleep. We can leave before anyone notices that we're here. Alright?"

"Yea..." I couldn't believe how much tension was still left in the room. We both climbed awkwardly into my bed. We faced opposite directions. I wasn't sure which one of us was more embarrassed at the moment. I found myself lying awake, despite how tired I was. Before I knew it, the clock read well past four.

"Are you still awake?"

A few moments passed by before I heard a soft "Yeah."

"You stole my first kiss." I flipped over to face him, but he didn't move.

"I said I'm sorry about that."

"I know, but why with me? I didn't think that you liked me like that...Do you like me?"

"Well, yeah, but you know how it is. Teammates, our job...It just never seemed right to try." He had a valid point. In our whole lives we had never had a moment to even think about relationships. It had been training, training, and more training for literally as long as I could remember. Lately it was all I seemed to have time for. After all this was over I was going to take a long over due break. "Do you even like me?"

"Well, I mean I guess." It was a pretty lame answer, but who else was there for me to like? My reply did get him to turn over and face me.

"You guess?"

"I don't know...I mean, it couldn't hurt to try."

"You mean?"

"Going out. I've never had a boyfriend before. Plus it would suck to die before I ever got to experience anything...you know."

"Well there's plenty of things that we could experience tonight." I grinned at him before shaking my head.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." It was strange to think that in just a few minutes I had gained a boyfriend. At least, for the most part it all went down very casually. In my opinion at least. I wondered if that was how things went for most normal couples.

"So can I kiss you again?"

"Yeah."

"_**Naruto"**_

"Naruto." Hinata's voice was overly worried, with a hint of being slightly shocked. Though I had an idea of what it was about, I couldn't exactly blame her for not noticing until now. I was monitoring the whole village, so of course I knew that Kushina and Sasuke's son were upstairs in her bedroom. I knew Kushina wouldn't let things get to far, I trusted her. Having a relationship would be good for her. She would need something good to look to in these hard times.

"It's alright, I already know. She's a good girl. You raised her well."

"_We_ raised her well." I often felt like I didn't have much of a relationship with Kushina. Being the Hokage demanded sacrifices that I had never imagined. It seemed like the only thing that we did together as a family was train, and have dinners together. I had to leave most of the work to Hinata when it came to just making a home. It made me want to quit sometimes, and try and restore some of what should have been. I felt like there was a decent gap between all of us that maybe time could fill in.

This damned war wasn't helping though. The first days casualties were relatively low, but I couldn't be everywhere anymore. Not like I used to. The council obviously wasn't happy with the decision I made to give the Kyuubi to my daughter. It was my decision to make though, and I was by no means obligated to indulge them. Still news of the Kyuubi's change in hosts was still largely under wraps. People didn't need to know, or to lose hope in my ability. I was still perfectly capable of defending my home. From anyone.

"_**Hitomi"**_

"Hitomi, three of them on your left, two behind us." Kakashi whispered to me. Of course I knew that they were there as well, that was the point of what we were doing. Chatting loudly about nonsense, pretending that we were just travelers, who hadn't heard that there was a war going on. It was a clever rouse. We had already dispatched of nearly fifty scouts and otherwise. A large portion of the enemy we were encountering didn't have much skill. It was strange to send in so many who in my opinion, were largely untrained. It was almost as if they stuck a weapon in anyone hand who could carry one. If that was true it was pissing me off. It took all the fun out of the fight, I liked a good challenge. We did take out one squad that was pretty decent, it consisted of a few chunnin level, a couple of which who could have probably been close to being Jonin. I took a decent cut to the arm that didn't really need any immediate attention. I placed a quick bandage on it before Kakashi and I started to make our return back.

We had completed our main goals, placing various traps and routing off some of their early supply lines. We had been up all day though, and at this point were due some rest. The sun was just starting to rise as we came upon the borders of the village. We came across some small amount of destruction at the gate. Nothing major a small fire, and a few dead. It wasn't the first time I had seen such, but it was a whole different feeling seeing it at your front door. We continued in, parting ways, he lived on the other side of the village from us, actually he lived rather far on the outskirts, close to the training grounds. I wondered if he lived all the way out there on purpose.

I ran home to take a shower, nearly two days of sweat, blood and grime were starting to aggravate me. I knew that at times I was a shinobi, but deep down I was still a girl. I often played it off like I was some sort of tomboy, despite my long hair, but I actually paid quite a bit of attention to my appearance and hygiene. It was hard to pretend I didn't care sometimes. I guess I just didn't want people to think I was some sort of dainty girl who was going to get in the way. I think I got it from the stories that father would tell me about mother, and when they were young. In my opinion she sounded like she was just in the way a lot back then.

The shower ran a strange mixture of brown and red before finally returning to clear water. It was fortunate that we had a well to supply the house with water, as I heard that such things were being rationed in the main city. As I walked back to my room after my shower I caught a glimpse of Hayato. He was staring at the ceiling, but he did have a strange grin on his face. I ignored it and continued back to my own room. After getting dressed in something that I could get some sleep in, but fight in if necessary I cleaned my swords and tools. Finally I climbed into bed. Through the curtains the morning light was officially starting to shine through. I never had a hard time sleeping in a bright room though. I knew a lot of other people did though. Needless to say the last forty-eight hours had taken their tole, and I quickly drifted off into sleep

_**"Sakura"**_

I had woken up to the sounds of the kids coming home. Hayato first, followed by Hitomi. It was good to know that they were alright. I had spent the first day treating some of the wounded that were coming in. I knew that in the coming days though that number would explode, and I might not even see my family for several days, maybe even weeks. It all depended on how long all of this would last. One part of me wanted to keep them all here, and safe. Pretending that they weren't able to fend for themselves, and still needed our protection. I snuck by their rooms, taking a moment to see if they were alright. Hayato was snoring, his face buried firmly in his pillow, blocking out the morning light. Hitomi on the other hand was sleeping normally. I noticed a blood stained bandage on her arm. She never did do a good job of taking care of her injuries. I quietly healed arm, a pretty girl like her didn't need any scars. She really did take after her father in a lot of way, but whether she liked it or not, she got some traits from me. I just knew that she didn't like them to show.

I wondered why she always seemed to have some sort of strange attitude towards me. She was always distant and at times a bit wary of me. I finished her arm and began to get up when she suddenly grabbed my arm.

"Oh, you scared me there, I didn't know that you were awake."

"Mom?"

"Yes honey?"

"Thank you"

"You're welcome, now try and get some sleep." Her arm drifted slowly back down to her side, before making a makeshift pillow under her head. I smiled as I left the room before going back to mine. Through the window I caught a glimpse of Sasuke making his way back home. He had been busy helping setting up the various squads. It was a lot to put together, and they needed all the battle experienced people that they could muster. Plus there was something he wanted to do specifically that involved me. It had me on edge for the last few days. I didn't think that such a thing was really up to other people. I guess that he was trying to make the other leaders trust him more. I went to meet him at the door.

"Well, how did it go? Did they agree?"

"It took some convincing, but they agreed to it. I got Kakashi's condolences, he actually preferred that it went to you."

"I'm kind of nervous about it."

"Tsunade has already agreed to do the surgery to ensure nothing goes wrong, but we have to do it now while there is still time, and you'll need time to properly recover." I knew that Sasuke trusted me to take care of the eye. It was certainly a strange thing to give someone to keep after, but I knew the sentiment behind it. I knew that he must of had several reason to be trying to get me to take it though. I was originally against it when he first told me of his intentions. He kept on insisting though, saying that it was for my own good.

I was nervous as we headed for the hospital, but he led me firmly, and assured me the whole way. Time seemed to blur, and before I knew it I was on the table, my other eye immobilized, forcing me to stare straight up. I wanted to look to my left though. The ever activated sharingan eye was being taken care of by the attendants. Tsunade gave me one final look before putting me under. All I could think about while I was starting to descend into darkness, was how think about how things were going to look when I woke up.

When I woke up things didn't look any different, I quickly realized that my left eye was covered with a bandage. The beeping of machines in the hospital were bringing back odd feelings of nostalgia. It had been some time since I had really spent any sort of time here. I couldn't help but think about some of the good times, and bad, that I had here. I had spent years it seemed in these walls. I guess I did have a lot to show for it. My medical skills were almost on par with Tsunade's now, it just seemed that she always had one more thing under her sleeve to teach me. I did feel a little rusty in that regard though. I had spent so much time training others in the academy, it didn't leave much time for myself.

"I see you're awake, how are you feeling?" Kakashi stepped slowly into the room.

"I'm alright, a little sore still." I had to turn my head to see him, I still wasn't able to look directional wise with my one open eye yet. Whatever medicine they used to paralyze it in place was still working. "I'm surprised that you have time to be here."

"Some things can wait. I just wanted to make sure that the things precious to me are still alright." He didn't say anything after that, he just walked away. Leaving me there with a smile on my face. I closed my eye and let myself fall back asleep. Outside I could hear Sasuke's voice discussing something with Kakashi. It was good to know that I had all these people around who cared. It made it easy to forget all the things that used to keep me up at night.

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**Authors Comments:** Well I hope that putting up there whose perspective I've switched to helps out. If you all like it, just give me some feed back, and I'll keep on doing it. Next chapter, the bandages come off, and the war really takes off.


	3. First time

**Authors notes:** Well I haven't updated in FOREVER. I've been amazingly busy this last month. I moved yet again and I've been pretty busy with work and whatnot. As for life Wichita has been ungodly hot for the last few weeks, and that trend will likely continue for the next few months unfortunately.

Well hopefully I can update soon again, not 6 weeks from now. So here you are chapter 3 of my second installment. Since I haven't updated in a while this chapter is a bit longer than the usual.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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"_**Sakura"**_

Summer in Konoha, it often rained making things unbearably humid at times. Other than that it never really got too hot outside making my training sessions a little more bearable. I wiped the sweat from my forehead onto my gloves. A large rock lay in pieces in front of me. A small pain in my knuckles signified that I hadn't quite mastered the technique yet, but it was good enough enough to be honest. Sasuke was helping me adjust to the sharingan. I had no idea that it used up so much chakra, it made me wonder how much Kakashi must have had in order to use it as much as he did. When we first met it didn't seem like he could use it long before he had to take a break. I was feeling why, I felt down and out after only minutes. Which means if the fight ever really hit home much more than it already was then I would be in big trouble. Still the war was actually leaning towards our favor. The last war had taken more toll on the other countries numbers, and high level shinobi. Konoha was actually much stronger. A hundred years ago and we may have been in a position to actually take over the other nations. Naruto wasn't that kind of Hokage though. He despised his roll in this war

He was out there, defending us, as was Sasuke, both of them out there reducing the enemies numbers. Naruto refused to give a count as to how many that he had killed. Though Sasuke had reported in over fifteen-hundred. I knew Naruto's must have been roughly the same I could only imagine the demoralizing effect that it was having on the enemy. Some of the other reports coming in were more disturbing. It seemed that a large percentage of their force wasn't even at the chunnin rank. Which meant that they were throwing everyone at us in a futile attempt. Konoha was going to win this defensive war. Did the world really hate Sasuke so much? They didn't understand that time had changed him. I had witnessed his changes firsthand. He had been in Konoha now for almost twenty years. It pained me to think that there was still so much hostility left in the world. Even after another great ninja war, and a few smaller ones that came afterwords.

Sometimes it just seemed to me like it was all in vain. Now more than ever I wish that we had just left Konoha and avoided all this unnecessary suffering. I knew that no one would ever say it, it wasn't "correct" to. I knew people thought it though.

I pulled my new forehead protector over my eye, and instantly closed it. It had become a habit rather quickly. Still even with my new eye covered and closed I could still feel the ever slight sapping of my chakra. I was learning not to go even close to zero as I couldn't afford to be down for another week at a time like this. The war was leaning towards our favor, but it wasn't time to let our guards down. First and foremost I was a medical ninja. I could do so much more than just fight.

"Taking a rest mom?" Hayato walked into the training grounds, his clothes were a little disheveled. I wondered if he had just come back from the field. I hadn't seen him since the day after the operation. Hitomi stood behind him, her clothes had a few blood stains on them. "Don't worry, she's fine. We just had a little run in with fifteen gennin. Mom, is that typical? They didn't stand a chance...I actually feel really bad about doing what we had to do."

"It's been in the reports...I don't see this war lasting to much longer, they're throwing anyone at us who can hold a kunai it seems."

A messenger suddenly appeared in front of us. The Hokage is requesting the presence of all the Jonin, he has an announcement." With that he took leave. He picked a bad time for me to have to run up to the Hokage's office. Though I supposed I wouldn't be the only person there who would be a mess. It didn't take me long to get there despite the fact that I was fairly exhausted. It was a good thing that I always had great chakra control. I wondered how it must have been for Kakashi to try and relearn everything from scratch. At least that's what it felt like I was doing. Using the sharingan in an scrimmage was like trying to use chakra for the first time, it left me that exhausted. The constant feeling of being drained was starting to wear on me. Maybe this was why Kakashi seemed so lethargic.

By the time I arrived many shinobi were already gathered on the roof. Naruto was standing in front of them, patiently waiting for a few others to arrive. He had a stern look on his face. I couldn't tell whether he was happy about something, or disappointed.

"Friends, the feudal lords have grown tired of this war...but not ours. I have been ordered by them to increase our countries position. Though the other nations have declared their loss, and have made a full retreat. Konoha is part of the Land of Fire, and as it's Hokage I am subject to them, as are we all." It had become dead silent. It became aware to me what Naruto was about to propose.

"I believe it's time that we become our own nation. Free from the restrictions of a feudal lord...I wanted to get your opinions on the matter. I don't want to end one war just to go right into another. There will be a special vote tomorrow. Discuss it with your families. I do want to put out a warning though, just because the formal war is over doesn't mean that the surrounding areas around the village will be safe. So mission activity is going to be temporarily halted. As you can imagine I have quite a bit to attend to, as do some of you as well." Naruto eyed a few members of the jonin population. I knew that he would be in touch with the Nara clan quite a bit over the next couple of weeks, regardless of the outcome of the vote.

"Turning Konoha into it's own nation is a bold move." Sasuke looked lost in thought. "It does prevent more war. It's a double edged sword though...It will open the country as a whole to attack if the other countries feel that we no longer supply the countries armed forces. I'm not sure if I can support Naruto on this one. Just because the feudal lord wants Konoha to help expand its boundaries, doesn't mean that we have to do it."

"So, we shouldn't go along with it?

"I don't think that Naruto is right this time. I believe that splitting the country will cause more violence than expanding the countries borders a little. It basically leaves everyone else to hang out to dry."

"So we cause a war to prevent war?"

"Well a civil war would be more precise...I simply think that it would be a better idea to just ignore the feudal lord. What power does he really hold to begin with anyways? He certianly couldn't force any of us into a war. At worse they may strip him of his title if he were to refuse."

"I don't see Naruto giving up his position, it's been his dream ever since he was a kid."

"I think you underestimate him Sakura, believe it or not I know him pretty well. He would step down long before it ever came to war. After all, he became the Hokage, he achieved his dream."

"What about you, have you achieved any of your dreams?"

"I've achieved them all and more" Sasuke planted a kiss on me. I found myself smiling the whole way home. It had been some time since Sasuke and I got to spend any real time together, and what he said was unusually sweet. I was beginning to wonder what put him in such a fine mood.

"_**Kushina"**_

It was going to be tonight. Hayato and I were going away. We had decided it over the last few weeks We had plenty of time to plan it. I couldn't explain my feelings for him, it was like something in me just clicked. It was if all this time we had just been hiding it from ourselves. We accelerated our plan to tonight since the war ended a little earlier than I thought. I knew that they would stop at nothing to find us, especially since I was the Kyuubi's host, not to mention it would be troublesome as well if someone got their hands on the sharingan that Hayato possessed. However it would take one hell of a force to take the two of us.

I packed my things already, and knowing Hayato, he was likely already waiting near our rendezvous point. It was fortunate that my dad decided to have some type of political crisis. He hadn't been back home for days it seemed. Mother was busy with border duty. Her byakugan eyes often put her there.

We both had grown tired of the war, and the wars that we knew were on the way. It just seemed better if we removed ourselves from the equation. I was tired of being a mercenary for my own home. Indoctrinated to believe that I was doing my country a "_service_". What a load of crap that was. I had killed over two-hundred people in the last six months alone, and what for? Thinking about it only made me angrier. Which was something I couldn't afford to do anywhere near people. I gathered my focus and headed out of the house. Everyone was too busy to notice anyone else. I ran to the training grounds, a casual place for any group to meet up. It wouldn't look the least bit unusual, it also served as a exit. The entrance to the village there was usually only manned by a few guards.

"Hey." Hayato snuck up behind me. He always did that. It dumbfounded me how much he could mask his chakra. It was if he could just make it go away. "You still want to go through with this? It's not to late to change your mind." I understood why he was giving me the chance to abandon our plan, but I had no intention of doing such and neither did he. He said it just so it could be said, a social convention at best.

"No, let's go. He grabbed my hand and that was all it took. I grabbed the flying raijin kunai in my pouch. It only had one destination, several miles from Konoha and near the border of the country. I had placed it the last time we were sent out, I barely managed to hide it without Kakashi or Hitomi noticing. It felt like those three had something going on. I assumed that maybe they had some sort of falling out. I supposed it was possible, but Hayato never mentioned or hinted at anything of the sort. I couldn't help but feel as if he was hiding some sort of information from me though. It was as if the last several weeks something had changed for everyone. Sometimes it felt hard t keep up with all of the change that was going on.

On my own end, trying to gain control of the Kyuubis power was daunting. I didn't feel ready to try and force its control. Something inside told me that it wasn't a good idea and I wasn't ready for it. So partial control for now was just going to have to do. The boost to my already high chakra was nice, it made some of my jutsu much more potent.

We ran far to the east just like we planned. The population that way was lower, and more friendly. It was far easier to go unnoticed that way. It was also rumored that there were other villages out that way. Though I had never been east of islands, nor had I known any shinobi that had, I was assured by some that land was out there. There were supposed to be villages out that way as well, but not shinobi villages. It would be interesting to see what kind of people were out there. I wondered what we could make of ourselves out there.

We set up camp after what seemed to be like the longest day of my life. Not knowing whether we were being followed or not was proving to be quite exhilarating. The first night it started raining. Which was typical for this time of year. It was what kept Konoha so green nearly year round. Oddly enough I couldn't sleep. I found myself oddly nervous. Which was strange considering some of the missions that I had been on. I didn't even want to think about how long I had been lying awake.

"You really should sleep, we have another long day tomorrow."

"Speak for yourself, you should sleep too." I got up and put my arms around him. His clothes were slightly damp from the rain, and his skin was cold. "You're freezing."

"I'm alright, you should get some sleep, someone needs to keep watch."

"No, we're fine get in here, I'll warm you up." I pulled him inside the tent, even though he resisted a little bit at first. I kissed him for the first time again since the night he spent at my house. We had seen each other in private only a few times since then. The moment never seemed right though, and nothing ever happened. Still, from kissing I could tell how tense and ill at ease he was. I knew that there was so much on his mind other than a make out session.

"It's alright, we don't have to do this...but at least come lay down with me. No one is looking for us yet, and even if they were they wouldn't be able to find us." I pulled him down on to my sleeping mat and pulled my cover over us. He awkwardly put his hand on my stomach. I didn't blame him for not having experience in such things. Especially since I didn't have any either. We both moved into a spooning position. His body was nice and warm against the cold air outside, and his breath was warm against my neck. We sat awake like that for a few minutes. His hand slowly applying more pressure as he became more comfortable with the situation. I pulled his hand up to my shoulder, I felt him tense as it grazed one of my breasts. It was the closest that anyone had come to actually touching them, but I wasn't about to count that. It wasn't as if he did it.

His hand was warm against my cheek, but it soon drifted down to my shoulder. I then felt something hard pressing on my butt, I knew what it was and he tried to subtly move away. I could feel my face turning red though. I wasn't sure what to do at this point, strangely instinct took in though and before I knew it I had pressed my lower region against his. At that point things seemed to take off fast, though in reality we weren't moving fast at all. Apparently doing this had been on his mind. He confidently moved his hand into my shirt, I held my breath as he forced his way into my bra. His hand eventually cupping one as much as he could, though my breasts were far larger than one hand could hope to hold. It wasn't that they were huge, I was only a strong C-cup but that was plenty enough for my figure.

The hardness coming from him only seemed to increase after that. His hand left my shirt and preceded to attempt to attempt to take it off. He didn't get far since I was laying down though. I spun to face him and took a deep look into his eyes. They seemed to be made of coal in the light, reflecting hardly any light. Still I could tell that he wasn't lying to himself anymore. We both knew that this was about to go all the way. I kissed him again before assisting him with my shirt. I didn't take off my bra before taking off his shirt. I hadn't seen him without one before, though I kind of figured that he would be in such great shape, after all he was a shinobi like myself, looking good came with the job.

He had a few scars on him, I did as well, but mine weren't as noticeable. It was strange to think that he didn't take care of his wounds all that well considering he was a medic and was trained by one of the best in the world. I wondered if he let them scar on purpose. Nonetheless I could feel myself starting to moisten down there. It wasn't that I had never been turned on before, but the wetness and heat building up inside me was far more intense this time. This time I took the lead a little. I put my hand in his pants. I had never seen a mans "_thing" _before, so naturally I was pretty curious about it before I let him put it inside me. He interrupted me though, tugging at the hem up my pants, pulling them down to my knees. I fumbled to take them off, tugging my shoes off with my feet. While I did that he stripped himself down to just his boxers, before pulling the blanket back over himself. I climbed in after him. At that point things reached an awkward pause.

We both lay their in our underwear, both of us wondering who was going to take the lead. It ended up being Hayato. His hand delved into my underwear, and I followed suit. At this point he was practically popping out of his, and my own were soaked enough that they were starting to cling uncomfortably. It was long before we were each pulling each others off. His hand then ran up my leg, then up my thigh, then onto my pussy. His fingers fumbled, spreading me apart before he slipped a finger inside, causing me to involuntarily let out a small moan. I had never _pleasured_ myself before so this was my first time experiencing anything like this, I was a bit caught off guard. I could feel all the little details of his finger as he slid it deeper into me. He pulled my arms over my head, I let them rest there as I focused on what he was doing to me. He pulled his finger out then rolled me on top of him.

Being on top was fine with me, I let me go on my own pace and left out the potential for awkward fumbling. His area was pressing against mine, I slid back and forth on it a little watching his face contort as he tried to contain himself. I could tell even from that he was nearly at his limit. It was his fault though, I had heard from the other girls gossip that everyone's first time was short. I didn't care though.

He reached up to take my bra off, fumbling with the clasps that held it in place. I usually didn't wear a normal bra like this, but since we were trying to blend in with everyone else it seemed practical. Normally I would just have to take off the tight under-armor that I wore. I cant say I really preferred the latter though. I always found regular ones to be far more comfortable.

Finally he managed to get it unfastened, I caught it before it fell and exposed myself to him. So far he had yet to really actually see me naked, so to me this was a big leap. More so than him softly fingering me. He slowly removed my arms away, pulling the bra straps down my arms. He tossed it away before returning his gaze to me. My arms had returned to covering myself, but he once again moved them, this time he placed his hands on them before groping them softly. I wasn't concerned over that after a moment. A small hunger had been building in me for the last several minutes and I needed to satisfy it. I grabbed him and pointed him up. It was a little awkward positioning myself onto him, but it only took a moment to get him into the right place. His hand were trembling as the rested on my waist

The moment had arrived, I unintentionally dropped myself onto him. In that instant pain seemed to run through me.

"Owwww."

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, it's normal for it to hurt the first time."

"Do you want to stop?" Despite the pain I could feel him throbbing inside of me. Given how close he was to cumming earlier I could only imagine as to how close he was now. "It's alright if you do."

"No, I think I can move a little bit now." I slowly slid my hips forward and felt him slide out of me and then back plunging him inside again. I repeated what I was doing. I only did it a few more times before I felt him cum inside me. It felt strangely warm inside of me, as if I had taken a sip of hot chocolate. Most of the pain I was feeling had started to go away, but it still didn't feel what I would describe as "Good". I let myself fall on top his him pushing our bodies together. He wrapped his arms around me. We stayed like that till he wasn't able to stay inside me anymore.

"I'm sorry if you're first time wasn't what you expected."

"It's alright. I still have the rest of the night." I smiled and kissed him again. I wasn't done with him tonight. Not by a long shot.


End file.
